Chicano theatre in the U.S. came out of the arrival of the Spanish conquerors who wanted to spread their religion. San Francisco and Los Angeles were known for being places where Hispanic Theatre was performed. As infrastructure started to improve with the building of railroads, Hispanic culture and activities maintained and spread and "by the 1920s Chicano Theatre flourished from Los Angeles to Chicago." The Great Depression and World War II had some effect on Chicano Theatre. As the U.S. Civil Rights Movement really started to come about in the 1960's Chicano Theatre grabbed ahold of that spirit of equality and started to produce things that portrayed the reality of being a Chicano in America. El Teatro Campesino was started by Luis Valdez. Another came shortly after that led by Jorge Huerta called Teatro de la Esperanza. The Chicano theatre served to portray Hispanic culture by using the language that Chicanos would use and dressing in the way of their culture. Like all ethnic theatre, this served as an outlet for this culture to express their beliefs and tradition and to also spread awareness to others.